Inventory Management Practices and Public Health Institutions Performance in Nairobi City County, Kenya
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Date
2023-11
Authors
Kirimi, Mwiti Justus
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Kenyatta University
Abstract
The functioning of Kenya's public health system has long caused the country's citizens much anxiety. Health is a prerequisite for better social development, less poverty, and the accomplishment of the social pillar goal of Kenya Vision 2030. In Kenya, it is anticipated that a decentralized health system would increase service delivery efficiency, encourage innovation across the board, enhance access to and equality of available services, and encourage accountability and transparency in service provision. The Kenya Health Policy 2014- 2030 offers direction to the health sector in defining and describing the necessary actions in accomplishing the government's health objectives. The policy is in line with Kenya's Constitution and global responsibilities to health. As a comprehensive platform for managing the success of immunization programs, the inventory optimization systems in public hospitals enable managers at all levels to manage stock and keep an eye on the supply chain. The general objective of this research was to ascertain how inventory management techniques affect public health facilities’ performance in Nairobi City County, Kenya (NCC). The study specific objectives were to ascertain the effects of vendor-managed inventory, lean IMS, electronic-inventory management system (EIMS) and activity based costing system (ABS) on the performance of public health institutions in NCC. Theories of economic order quantity, lean manufacturing, and transaction cost economics served as the study's theoretical underpinnings. Descriptive research methodology was used for this study. 180 county employees, including the county pharmacist, sub county pharmacists, the pharmacist in charge, and hospital administrators, participated in the study. The respondents were picked using purposive sampling and simple random sampling. Primary data was gathered by utilization of questionnaires which were tested for reliability and validity. Quantitative data was analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics in this study. The average, mode, and standard deviation described data. While SPSS was used for the descriptive statistics, regression and correlation analysis constituted the inferential statistics. According to the research, public health facilities in Nairobi County, Kenya benefited greatly from adopting lean inventory management, electronic-inventory management, and activity- based costing systems. The research found that the primary objective of vendor controlled inventory was to cut down on inventory-related expenditures for both parties involved. In addition to minimizing holding costs and limiting loss from obsolescence, rotting, and dead stock, effectively managing lean inventory can also avoid out-of-stocks, which can irritate customers and affect sales in the long run. This is because out-of-stocks can eliminate the need for the company to order more inventory than it needs, which in turn lowers holding costs. The use of an EIMS eliminates the need for double-entry bookkeeping and streamlines the transfer of inventory costs and assets between applications. Managers are able to get a clearer picture of production costs with activity- based costing, allowing them to make better decisions about which items to develop and how to make them at lower costs. The study recommends that the hospitals should openly share information with the vendor to build confidence that it is able to fulfill customer needs and every order that comes through. The hospitals should maintain a minimal amount of inventory by ordering goods or materials only when they are needed in the production process. Hospitals ought to leverage artificial intelligence to enhance their inventory management by offering insights, forecasts, and suggestions derived from their inventory data. The hospitals should first identify the activities that consume overhead costs in your business process, such as ordering materials or setting up machines.
Description
A Project Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Award of the Degree of Master of Business Administration (Procurement) to the School of Business, Economics and Tourism of Kenyatta University, November 2023.
Keywords
Inventory Management, Public Health Institutions Performance, Nairobi City County, Kenya